Slippery Slopes
by pinkrosepictures
Summary: Castle invites Kate and the boys to join him for a week at his favorite ski resort. And he seems to have more than skiing on his mind.   But he's not the onlyone who can play games...


"Do you think you two could maybe just pretend to be grownups until you're in your rooms?" Kate scolded Ryan and Esposito. The three of them had just gotten out of a limousine, that was parked infront of the ski resort where they would spend the next five days. And while Rick was tipping the driver the boys had taken the opportunity to start an impromptu snowball fight.

"Relax Kate, they're just having fun. Maybe we should join them," Rick defended them.

"Trust me Castle, you wouldn't want that," she replied with a smirk.

"Color me intrigued, but for now let me give you a tour. They'll catch up eventually."

"Alright," she replied following him a little reluctantly. The trip to Aspen had been Rick's Christmas present for Kate and the guys, and because he had insisted that it was either all of them or no one she couldn't turn the invitation down. Although she was wondering if the conditions had been the same if Ryan or Esposito had been the ones to do so...

"You're gonna love this place," Rick said as they entered the lobby. "Just wait until you see the hop tub..."

"I thought we came here to ski," she countered.

"Who would wanna be out in the cold snow when there's hot tubs and fireplaces," he stopped in the middle of the lobby, and put his arm around her.

"Imagine you and me by that fireplace over there after a long day on the slopes, a cup of hot cocoa or maybe some wine..."

"All those gorgeous ski instructors..." Kate interrupted him.

"Hey! This is my fantasy, don't ruin it," he gave her a disapproving look, and drew his arm back.

"Let's get to our room before this escalates."

"Castle did you just say our room?" Kate questioned as she followed him to the front desk.

"It's the best suite in the house, three bedrooms, one for me, one for you, and the boys get the room with the bunk beds," Rick explained once they were alone in their suite. "And as promised..." He opened the french doors and stepped out onto the cedar deck, where he waited for Kate to join him.

"The hot tub."

"You didn't exaggerate, I give you that," Kate said, but before Rick could reply anything Ryan and Esposito stormed into the suite.

"Dude..." Ryan couldn't believe that this was supposed to be their home for the next five days.

"This is the life bro," Esposito agreed before they both joined Rick and Kate on the deck.

"Finally, we were already worried that you two got lost in the snow," Kate greeted them.

"I'm sure you were," Esposito replied.

"Wow this is some view..." Ryan commented looking in awe at the mountains infront of him.

"It's not bad," Rick agreed. "But come on, let me show you the bedrooms, you're gonna love this."

"Bunk beds? Are you kidding me," Esposito complained looking at the beds infront of him.

"I wanted us all to be together, and they don't have a four bedroom suite. Besides this is awesome, like camp!"

"Then how come that you're not playing camp?" Esposito asked.

"Come on guys it's not that bad," Kate cut in to prevent Rick from getting any ideas.

"Easy for you to say..." Esposito mumbled.

"I always liked camp," Ryan just shrugged before he claimed the top bunk for himself.

"See that's the right attitude!" Rick exclaimed, "So lets get settled in and then..." he checked his watch. "Well it's too late to go skiing, but how about we hit the town?"

"Sounds great to me," Kate replied with a smile before she left the room.

"Perfect, we'll regroup in 15 minutes," Rick said following Kate, not even bothering to wait for Ryan's and Esposito's answers.

"I'm starting to think that we're just here because Beckett would have never said yes if he had only invited her," Ryan commented.

"I figured that out when they forgot us at the airport earlier," Esposito replied.

"They came back after five minutes, and it took us about four to notice that were gone..." Ryan defended them.

"Maybe we should..." Esposito started but he quickly dismissed the thought again.

"Maybe we should what?"

"Well if Castle wants us to spend as much time as possible together, who are we to deny him that?"

"Yeah, he is paying for this trip afterall, we owe him that." Ryan agreed.

"Exactly," Esposito said with a smile. Castle was in for a surprise.

-x-x-x-x-x-x

_Poor Castle, looks like getting some alone time with Kate might not be as easy as he though it would be..._

_I hope you're enjoying this idea so far - there's lots of fun to come ;)_

_Reviews make my day !_

_Peace, Love and Sunshine_

_Laura_


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